Critical questions remain unanswered following the PGA Tournament’s unexpected cancellation of January’s Sentry Golf Tournament on Maui—with it the loss of an estimated influx of $50 million to Hawaii’s economy, including the impact on Maui-based nonprofit organizations and businesses that have come to rely on the tournament’s annual financial boost.
Television coverage of The Sentry Golf Tournament also includes commercial breaks that beam video images of breaching humpback whales, beautiful shoreline and sunny skies to the rest of the country socked in by winter weather.
In a state that saw disappointing visitor arrivals throughout this year and no bump in summer tourism, Maui has particularly struggled.
The cancellation of the Sentry tournament, the first stop on the PGA tour, was more bad news derailing expectations of an influx of players, their families and fans to help fill Maui lodgings.
Jerry Gibson, president of the Hawaii Hotel Alliance, called the back-to-back Sentry Golf Tournament and Oahu’s Sony Open “no better marketing we have when it’s cold in Buffalo, N.Y. They’re watching it on TV and they want to jump on a plane and experience what they’ve seen. They show beautiful scenery and Hawaii at its finest. It’s a huge miss for us.”
Neither the PGA nor the Sentry Golf Tournament responded to requests for comment on the future of the event after the Sept. 16 PGA announcement that the 2026 tournament was canceled over an ongoing legal dispute over water that has left Kapalua Golf’s Plantation Course bone-dry.
The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and Hawai ‘i Tourism Authority jointly told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that, “We haven’t heard if the tournament will be held at a site in Hawai ‘i or another location on the continental US.”
Gov. Josh Green continues to promote “sports tourism ” opportunities across Hawaii—especially on Maui in the aftermath of the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires that devastated Maui’s tourism industry.
In the days following the Sentry’s cancellation, Green and Keith Amemiya, who heads Green’s sports task force, announced that Hawaii’s first high school surf championship will be held in May on Maui and encouraged residents from all islands to attend.
In a statement to the Star-Advertiser about the ramifications of the Sentry cancellation, Green’s office said that he and his administration “are exploring numerous sports-tourism opportunities to keep bringing enthusiastic and respectful visitors to the islands.
“Part of his recent Tokyo trip was spent working to attract cultural programming and sports partnerships with companies like Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper and owner of the Yomiuri Giants.
“The LA Rams had a great mini-camp on Maui and contributed generously to the community there through other efforts. That reciprocal relationship will continue for awhile.
“Also, we want to bring UFC to Hawaii. There is, person for person, a higher rate of interest in UFC in Hawaii than anywhere else in the country, except for maybe Nevada.
“Of course we continue to have a very positive relationship with the PGA Tour and we are going to foster that for years to come, ” said Green.
The billionaire owner of Maui’s Kapalua Resort has pledged to donate $750, 000 to nonprofit organizations who relied on the tournament’s annual influx of funding in exchange for cleaning up trash, refilling hydration stations and other duties for the tournament.
But it’s unclear how much—and how many—organizations will receive a portion of the donations, or whether they can rely on it going forward.
A representative for billionaire Tadashi Yanai—who owns Kapalua Resort and serves as chairman and CEO of Fast Retailing Co., which includes clothing retailer Uniqlo—did not respond to questions over Yanai’s $750, 000 pledge, including whether it’s a one-time offer to Maui nonprofits or a longer-term commitment.
Last year’s Sentry Golf Tournament donated over $747, 000 to local charities, according to DBEDT and HTA.
Hale Makua Health Services has come to rely on the tournament’s annual donations, which was nearly $90, 000 last year, to help the nonprofit organization provide long-term care and rehabilitation services, said CEO Wesley Lo.
“We are a critical service, ” Lo said. “Without us, you don’t have health care, other than the hospitals.”
He estimated that Hale Makua has received $1.5 million in donations over the years from the tournament in exchange for providing volunteers and staff to pick up trash and clean up around portable toilets.
Last year, Hale Makua turned out volunteers and staff to fill 92 volunteer shifts for the tournament that added up to 522 hours of volunteer time, Lo said.
The donations from the Sentry Golf Tournament, he said, represent one of its top three fundraising events of the year.
“We’re proud to do it and it’s a good thing for the local community, ” Lo said.
With the cancellation of next year’s Sentry tournament, he said, “there will certainly be an impact on the community. On Maui, we were hoping for some good news.”
The PGA announced that the tournament was canceled because of deteriorating conditions triggered by a lack of irrigation water that continues to leave portions of West Maui in drought conditions.
TY Management, headed by Yanai, then filed a lawsuit against Maui Land &Pineapple Co., Inc. over alleged failure to maintain the more than century-old Honokohau Ditch System.
A countersuit was filed by MLP calling the accusations “false ” and pointing instead to historic drought conditions.
J.D. Wyatt, executive director of Ka Lima O Maui—a nonprofit organization that represents Maui’s County’s largest employer of adults with disabilities—declined to specify how much in donations his organization receives in exchange for providing the tournament with volunteers who refill water stations and provide child care for players’
children.
But he called the annual donation from Sentry the organization’s second-largest infusion of cash each year.
“We want to earn our donations, ” Wyatt said. “It’s something that’s really important to us. It’s hard to raise money these days, especially on Maui, where you’re constantly pursuing the same funders. So (canceling the tournament ) is a big hit.”
He called the televised marketing campaign during commercial breaks of the tournament’s coverage “a four-day, long commercial ” for Maui.
“They come back from commercial and all of a sudden you have whales popping up and spraying all over the place and images of a snorkel boat in January … when everybody else watching is freezing.”
Wyatt serves as vice president of the 70-member, Maui Non-Profit Directors organization, where the heads of all the organizations that provide volunteers for the Sentry Golf Tournament are wondering whether the tournament has been lost forever.
In the meantime, Wyatt said, “you’ve just got to put your head down and find replacements. No one wants to cut services, so we’re just going to have to find those funds.”
Many of his fellow nonprofit leaders are also bracing for what could happen if the tournament disappears permanently.
“If it’s gone forever, you can see potentially loss of service, ” Wyatt said. “My board has asked me, ‘What are you going to do ?’ … There hasn’t been any talk about what may be in the future. So we’re all crossing our fingers. I wish we all knew what things are going to look like.”
